I miss Australian food a lot. Over the last few weeks, on the occasional day that it feels like it could nearly be summer, I’ve been missing rotisserie chicken and tabbouleh. This is standard summer take-away fare in Australia for when it is just too hot to cook. Well, it certainly isn’t too hot to cook in Edinburgh, so I whipped up a chicken pie and tabbouleh salad for a midweek dinner with Sarah who is a regular Thursday visitor (and blogs at auldfromreekie).

Tabbouleh is always quicker to make than I think it will be. And the bonus of making it yourself is that you can increase the parsley and mint so it’s more green than beige. Unlike many salads, it also keeps amazingly well in the fridge overnight so is great for taking to work/school for lunch.

Tabbouleh

1 cup cracked wheat

2 large ripe tomatoes

1/2 cucumber

4 spring onions

bunch of flat-leaf parsley

large handful of mint

juice of 1 lemon

glug of olive oil

salt and pepper

Cover the cracked wheat with boiling water, put a lid on the container and leave to sit. Dice the tomatoes and cucumber, and slice the spring onions. Wash the mint and parsley, shake to dry and chop finely. Fluff up the wheat with a fork and mix with the chopped vegetables, lemon juice and olive oil. Season to taste.